Combined floor and electric-conduit system for steel cars.



PatentedSepu. 5, 1916.

FFEE C. H. ANDERSON.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.27, 1915.

COMBINED FLOOR AND ELECTRIC CONDUIT SYSTEM FOR STEEL CARS.

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WITNESSES 1. a

CHARLES H. ANDERSON, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

COIVIBINED FLOOR AND ELECTRIC-,CONDUIT SYSTEM FOR STEEL CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Original application filed June 18, 1914, Serial No. 845,894. Patent No.1,147,999. Divided and. this application filed January 27, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that T, CHARLES H. ANDER- SON, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, in thecounty of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Combined Floor and Electric-Conduit Systems forSteel Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in combined floor and electricconduit system for steel cars, and is a division of application on whichPatent No. 1,147,999 was granted to me July 27, 1915.

The usual method of installing the electric wiring in steel and othercars, is by the use of enameled iron pipe secured to the car floor byclips. The complicated systems of automatic control now in use,necessitates the extensive use of this iron pipe, which adds materiallyto the weight without adding strength to the car body. The cars now inuse, carry from three hundred (300) to a thousand (1,000) pounds of thismaterial which is difficult and expensive to install, and in manyinstances necessitates raising the entire car body in order to pass thepipes over or above the motors.

The object of my invention is to obviate the disadvantages of the ironconduit system above referred to, and to so construct the floor of thecar that the conduits for the conductors strengthen the floor throughoutthe length of the car body.

With this and other objects in View my invention consists in the partsand combination of parts and in the details of construction as will bemore fully explained and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a View in plan of a car floorembodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation of same, andalso showing the'motor leads, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view intransverse section through a portion of the floor.

The floor 1 of the car consists of steel plates, continuous from side toside. Riveted, bolted or otherwise secured to the top of the floorplates 1, is a steel plate 2, bent or pressed into the fluted orcorrugated Serial No. 4,674.

form as shown, so as to provide a series of chambers or conduits 3extending from end to end of the car. These channels or conduits areadapted to receive the electric wires 4, the wires entering and leavingsaid channels or conduits 3 through openings 5 in the plates 1. Securedto the lower face of the floor plates-are the transverse steel boxes 6which close the openings 5 in the floor, and communicating with saidboxes 6, are the conduits 6 which protect and carry the laterallyextending wires 4: to the apparatus under the frame of the car, withwhich the said wires are connected. Those wires emerging from boxesdirectly over the apparatus to which they are connected need not beprotected by conduits.

Located between the floor plates 1 and the pressed steel conduit section2, is a sheet 7 of insulating material, and above the conduit section 2and resting on same, is a strip 8 of insulating material, which coversand protects said section through the width and length of the latter.The U-shaped grooves or spaces between the conduits of the section 2 arefilled with as bestos cement 9, or other suitable insulating material,and the two side edges of the conduit section are bounded by and held inplace by the strips 10, of wood or other material, which are secured tothe floor plates 1 by bolts passing through the strips, edges of theconduit sections, insulating sheet 7 and the floor plates. At the sideedges of the floor, next to the side plating 11, are wood strips 12secured to the floor frame by bolts 13.

Located intermediate the strips 12 and 10, at each side of the conduitsection 2 is a filling of cork or other suitable material 9 and abinder, which not only insulates the floor but deadens the sound andprevents the floor plates from vibrating.

The tops of strips 8, 12 and 10 over the conduit sections, and thefiller intermediate the strips are all in the same horizontal plane, andare all covered by canvas 14, which forms the base for a covering ofbattleship linoleum, agasote or other material 15 that will stand theexcessive wear to which a car floor is subjected.

With a car floor thus constructed, the plates 1 which form thefoundation may be comparatively light, and not sufliciently stiffbetween cross beams, to hold the passenger explained is located at thelongitudinal center ofthe car and extends throughout the length of thelatter, and forms in effect a center sill for the car floor, and byfilling the" upper grooves in the conduit section with an insulatingmaterial, and covering the floor plates at the sides with cork cementedtogether and held in place by canvas, the whole being covered withlinoleum, I secure effective insulation against heat and cold, andthorough protection of the electric wires.

V The conduits or channels for the electric wires are enameled on theinside so as to resist any flash that might occur from the burning outof a wire. The motor leads which extend laterally after passing throughthe floor plates will be carried by the boxes 6 and conduits 6 direct totheir positions above the motors, and by locating the conduits above thefloor plates, the leads to the end motors may cross the bolsters withoutinterference. Again with my construction the under side of the carfloor, in-

stead of being a net work of pipes held in place by clips, is a smoothsurface broken only by the boxes 6, that may be readily painted and keptin proper condition.

It is evident thatmany slight changes might be resorted to in therelative arrangement of parts shown and described without departing fromthe spirit and scope of my Hence I would have it underlower face of thefloor plates and covering said openings and for protecting and carryingthe wires.

2. A car floor composed of metal plates and a fluted metal sectionsecured to the upper face of said plates and forming a series ofconduits extending lengthwise the car, the said floor plate havingopenings communicating with said conduits, boxes I secured to the lowerface of the floor plate and covering said opening and conduits leadingfrom the boxes for protecting and carrying the wires to the desiredpoints.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

A. W. KROHNEL, WM. J. ZIEGENHARDT.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G."

